“The market is flat. The purchasing power is much weaker than last year,” a senior executive of a large supermarket chain told VietNamNet.

The purchasing power is much lower than the 20-30 percent growth rate targeted by the retail chain.

Even products specifically used for Tet such as sweets, beer and food saw a slight sale growth rate of 5-10 percent compared with ordinary days.

Anticipating weaker demand this Tet, the retail chain has stored a smaller volume of goods than last year, but fears the inventory level may be high despite sale promotion programs.

Petty merchants at traditional markets also complain about slow sales.

Dao Thi Ly, who has been selling pork pies and sausages at Hoang Mai Market for the last 15 years, said sales have never been so slow.

In previous years, she made one ton of products each day and sold out within a day during the Tet sale season. There were so many orders that she had to refuse many. 

Chu Minh Phuong, who sells fruit jam on Hai Ba Trung street in Hanoi, said sales are  poor though prices are reasonable. Phuong mostly sells wholesale in bulk. Last year, nearly 20,000 boxes and 4-5 tons of products were sold. 

“The volume of products in stock is just 2/3 of that of the previous year. However, I am worried as there are very few buyers,” she said. “Only 30 percent of stored goods have been sold, though Tet will come soon."

Phuong hopes that demand will increase in the next 10 days, but she is uncertain because demand in the market is weak as many businesses have cut Tet bonuses for their workers.

To stimulate demand, supermarket chains have launched sale promotions with price reductions of 10-40 percent for essential goods. Pork prices at some supermarkets are even lower than traditional markets.

At a working session with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) recently, WinCommerce, the owner of Winmart and Winmart+ retail chains, predicted that demand would increase slightly by 20 percent in Tet compared with other months of the year 

The company began storing goods and collecting farm produce from provinces for the Tet season 2-3 months before Tet. The goods, especially vegetables, fruits, meat and fish, is abundant, and the prices are stable.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Kim Dung from Saigon Co-op said the retail chain predicted a 50 percent increase in demand this Tet and has stored goods worth up to VND10 trillion, or 20-50 percent higher than ordinary months.

Hanobaco, a large sweets manufacturer, and BRG Mart and Big C have reported that their volumes of stored goods are 2.5 times higher than other months of the year as they expect a 20-40 percent increase in sales.

The Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade reported that VND40.9 trillion worth of products have been stored for Tet sales, up 10 percent over 2023 Tet.

Hanoi has stored 58,500 tons of pork, 292,000 tons of rice, 19,500 fowls, 16,200 tons of beef, 390 million eggs, 325,500 tons of vegetables, 16,260 tons of seafood, 16,260 tons of processed food and 1,500 tons of sweets.

In HCM City, 45 suppliers of food and foodstuff and essential goods are distributors in many supply chains. They have committed to store VND22 trillion of products for Tet, including VND8.5 trillion of products at stable prices.

In addition, there are three large wholesale markets and 221 traditional markets in HCM City ready to provide essential goods.  It is expected that the volume of goods  at the markets will increase by 80 percent compared with ordinary days, to VND13,000-15,000 tons per day.

Tam An